Examples and Differences of Plague, Epidemic, and Pandemic

Most of us are probably familiar with the term plague, and if that happens, we should be more vigilant. Because if there is an outbreak, the disease is easily transmitted, and we are more susceptible to infection if we are not careful. However, apart from plague, there are other terms for spreading disease, namely epidemics and pandemics.

A plague is a disease that spreads over a geographic area. The area whose population is infected with the condition is not even one country, but we still have to watch out for it.

The number of distributions is minimal, for example, an outbreak of dengue fever. Usually, the spread of this disease only occurs in one area, but the number of people affected is quite a lot.

A plague is indeed the beginning of the spread of disease in an area. An example is a COVID-19 disease, originally an outbreak of the coronavirus in the Wuhan area, China, before eventually becoming a pandemic.

The next stage in the spread of disease is an epidemic.

An epidemic is an outbreak that covers a broader area and may spread beyond the area affected by the attack. For example, when cases of the spread of the coronavirus in Wuhan began to occur in other cities in China and outside China, this began to be called an epidemic.

But it could be that the spread has reached one country or even spread within one continent. So this is commonly known as an epidemic.

But what if the spread has reached many countries around the world? If this happens, usually the World Health Organization or known as the WHO, will declare the disaster a pandemic.

If the spread of the disease has occurred in many countries worldwide and is difficult to control, then this is called a pandemic. However, WHO will define a pandemic if it has spread a lot in every country.

For example, if the disease only occurs in one country but the condition is carried to another country but is not contagious in that other country, then it cannot be declared a pandemic. So a new pandemic can occur if the spread of this disease has happened quite a lot in every country around the world.

So a pandemic is the most severe level of disease spread or can be called a global disease outbreak that occurs throughout the world.

So if a pandemic occurs, many restrictions will be made in many countries, especially transportation between countries and regions is minimal. An example of a pandemic is the COVID-19 disease which the WHO has designated as a pandemic because it has occurred worldwide.